If you made it to Silicon Valley, you are probably good at something useful – given this is one of the world’s leading centers of innovation. Of course, you will want the best for your child as well. Silicon Valley has an amazing climate, proximity to coast and city, inspired people from all over the world.Distinguishing between your skills that brought you to Silicon Valley and your ambitions for your child to land it at least this well can be a tough call. SVB will open you eyes and mind to appreciating our amazing locations and mindset of the people so that you get inspired by the best to take a balanced and nurturing approach to the next generation. They will not thrive with pressure to be like us. They will thrive with confidence and creativity and an openness to what can be created next. Wherever they bring their skills and passion, they will thrive just as much as they learned to thrive in their upbringing.

Implications of a Silicon Valley Mindset for family life

As Silicon Valley is naturally very ambitious and competitive, this attitude would affect most levels of life here, including raising children. Our best intentions, high expectations, and exposure to the best educational situations can provide great opportunities for our children.Yet, parenting has somehow reached a level of consuming educational enrichment, just as consuming materialistic goods was big in the 1960s. And having it all and just going for the best doesn’t always result in the best outcomes. Keeping it simple, balanced and real, even though you can have it all, is one of the biggest struggles of this generation of parents.A natural part of my personality is that I look at the bigger picture. What does this imply for the next generation? Of course, successful parents want success for their children. Yet very often in our society, with all good intentions, we achieve the opposite of what we actually intended.Entitlement grows easily and reduces the desire to challenge oneself. Over-scheduled youth seek perfection. Without time to make mistakes, they develop anxiety, are overloaded with question-answer problems, grapple with hectic lifestyles, and have little connection time with family.A nurturing setting for creativity looks different. How do we keep curiosity alive when every fact can get googled? Are we spending family time together for communication and connection? Are we expecting straight-shot developments, or do we accept the value of curving career paths with detours and failures? Do we believe that having a straight-A student in the family means that everything is going well for him or her? Do we think if we keep our kids busy enough we stop them from doing mischief? Do we really see our children for who they are, or do we constantly compare them with others?Find out more about how to handle these challenges through “Asset- Building the Educational Way”.

Asset-Building the Educational Way: The 40 Assets by the Search Institute

Set aside your financial knowledge when you define “assets,” and instead, think of an asset as something “intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value.”Children are the assets of our future. What makes them thrive and grow into successful and happy adults? And, conversely: What makes parents good educators? We can become intentional asset-builders for the children in our family, our life, our world. We can demonstrate that we value young people’s ideas and challenge them to think even more boldly — you might call these “teachable moments.”Our generation of parents wants the best for our children. That’s the reason we do whatever we can to expose our kids to the highest enrichment activities — no matter how much time we expend in chauffeuring them everywhere, or the lost opportunities of a “normal childhood” for the siblings who tag along. Ironically, we want our children to be independent, yet we make them dependent — on us driving them everywhere, on edutainment, and on all the tech gadgets that are available to stimulate and distract them.In 1990, the Search Institute released a framework of 40 Developmental Assets, which identifies a set of skills, experiences, relationships and behaviors that enable young people to develop into successful and contributing adults.

The 40 assets are grouped into 8 key areas. The first four are external, thesecond half are internal assets:

Support

Empowerment

Boundaries & Expectations

Constructive Use of Time

Commitment to Learning

Positive Values

Social Competencies

Positive Identity

​A 41st Developmental Asset, “Positive Cultural Identity”, was established by Project Cornerstone specifically for Silicon Valley as a result of local community input. Project Cornerstone is a Silicon Valley-wide initiative that seeks to build a community where all adults support children and youth so they can thrive. The 41 assets form the foundation of their work.Most schools in Silicon Valley benefit from the contributions of Project Cornerstone‘s Asset Building Champion volunteers as ABC readers, FunVisors or asset-builders in lunchtime clubs. These 41 assets have shaped the educational outlook and interaction in our schools significantly; and the attitude of being an intentional asset-builder is contagious and creates a positive culture.The goal is to teach parents who don’t have the opportunity to learn asset- building in their child’s school environment how to be an asset-builder, for both an enriched family life and for the future of all our children. When you learn about this, you will find that asset-building enriches your own life just as much as others’ lives! We are building an asset-rich community in which all can thrive. If you want to find a Parent Education Class in Silicon Valley, search here.People are thriving where they feel valued, respected and seen!